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Convicted rapist found dead in jail

1-26-2010 Maryland:

A man convicted of rape a week ago was found dead Monday in an Anne Arundel County Detention Center shower, and officials said his death was a probable suicide.

William Joseph Trice, 48, was found in the jail shower around 6:15 a.m., said Terry Kokolis, superintendent of the county jails. Asked if Trice had hanged himself, Kokolis said Trice "was found in that position."

Trice was working as a tow truck operator and living in Eagle Bridge, N.Y., in 2008 when a fingerprint and DNA evidence made him a suspect in two newly reopened rape cases stemming from incidents occurring in 1988. At a recent trial - the first of two scheduled - police said that when they told him of the evidence they had collected, he replied, "Oh my God; no way; I'm worse than I thought I was," and also said, "My life is over."

His attorney, Andrew Szekely, said he knew little about his client's death and declined to respond to questions.

Jail employees started CPR and first aid but were "unable to revive him," Kokolis said. Fire department paramedics also could not revive Trice, he said.

Anne Arundel County police spokesman Justin Mulcahy said police are investigating the death, saying only that "there were no signs of trauma or foul play."

Trice had been held at the county jail since December 2008, Kokolis said, and evaluations showed he was not considered a suicide risk or in need of medication.

Suspected in two "cold" cases, Trice was found guilty Jan. 19 of the August 1988 rape of a woman in her bedroom. The woman's mother was asleep two floors above in their home in a gated community in Annapolis.

DNA evidence from that scene and a December 1988 rape of a woman outside her Arnold home appeared to link both crimes, investigators said.

Investigators said that a fingerprint on a candle in the Annapolis woman's bedroom matched one of Trice's in a national database, leading them to question him in November 2008.

The maximum prison sentence for rape is life. Prosecutors intended to seek a lengthy prison term for the Annapolis rape at the sentencing scheduled for March 8.

A trial on charges in the Arnold attack was scheduled for April. ..Source.. by Andrea F. Siegel

Suicide in West Hartford

1-22-2010 Vermont:

WEST HARTFORD – Just minutes before he was due to appear in court Thursday to answer several felony charges of alleged sexual misconduct, a well-known West Hartford junkyard owner stepped away from a group of his friends and into his garage where he shot himself three times in the chest with a handgun.

Paul Oakes, 56, was pronounced dead at 1:02 p.m., shortly after his arrival at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., the same time he was scheduled to be arraigned for allegedly attempting to solicit a local woman from whom he had bought a junked car. Oakes allegedly offered the woman money for sex. The woman said she refused and Oakes attempted to force himself upon her.

Oakes had been the focus of several criminal investigations in the past. Oakes had a conviction in 1973 for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl.

Oakes was in trouble a year ago after his adult daughter told police he'd held her against her will in his house for days and threatened her with a gun, conduct that Oakes denied. Police did seize several firearms after a search of his house and, at the time of his death Thursday, Oakes was still awaiting trial on that case and also facing federal charges of being a felon in possession of a gun as a result.

"Paul is the most harmless person you'll ever meet," said Doug Tuthill of North Pomfret, who had been his friend since childhood. "He's been villainized by his size and his reputation but that was totally the opposite of what he was as a person. You won't find anybody who helped more poor people than Paul did."

Tuthill and another close friend of Oakes, Will Hein of South Royalton, said they had felt in the hours before Oakes died that something was different about him, but they said they chalked it up to his resignation over the fact that he was almost certainly going to be held without bail following his court appearance in White River Junction.

"The man gave me his flatbed (car hauler) before he killed himself," said a shaken Hein as he stood outside the police station. "He sent me (across the driveway) to help with a tractor-trailer and I didn't think anything of it. I never knew he had a gun in the garage. He just did that so I wouldn't see him do it or try to stop him, because I would have.

"He didn't think he was coming back from court, but we would never have expected this," Hein said. ..Source.. by ERIC FRANCIS HERALD CORRESPONDENT

Jail officials say Fulton inmate sets self ablaze

1-21-2010 Georgia:

ATLANTA -- Officials are investigating after an inmate at the Fulton County jail set himself on fire.

Spokeswoman Tracy Flanagan said Jeremy Moody, who is charged with the 2007 deaths of two teens, was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital after the fire last week.

She said Moody set himself ablaze around 1:45 p.m. on Jan. 12.

Moody's family tells WSB-TV they don't believe the jail's report and want an external investigation.

College Park cousins 15-year-old Delarlonva "Del" Mattox Jr. and 13-year-old Chrisondra Sierra Kimble were found stabbed to death in April 2007.

Moody, who was 29 at the time, was charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and rape in addition to the murder charges.

Investigators said Moody was a stranger to both teens and was likely trying to rob them. ..Source.. Ledger-Enquirer.com

North Attleboro motel scene of apparent murder-suicide

Posted in Related Deaths
1-17-2010 Massachusetts:

NORTH ATTLEBORO - A man and a woman are dead after an apparent murder-suicide at a Route 1 motel this morning.

Police say they went to the Pineapple Motor Inn about 9:30 a.m. to execute an arrest warrant at Room 27 and, after knocking on the door, heard gunshots.

The Bristol County District Attorney's office says the 23-year-old man inside apparently shot the 20-year-old woman and then himself. Police had gone to the motel to arrest the man on a rape charge.

Authorities are not identifying the victims pending notification of family. They did, however, say one of the victims was a Seekonk resident. ..Source.. by STU SKERKER/FOR THE SUN CHRONICLE AND MICHAEL GELBWASSER/SUN CHRONICLE STAFF


Police release names of victims in apparent North Attleboro murder-suicide

NORTH ATTLEBORO - Police this morning released the names of the victims in what police say was an apparent murder-suicide in a room at the Pineapple Inn on Route 1 Sunday.

Investigators believe Jose Vidal Jr., 23, of Seekonk, shot his girlfriend, Ashley Purdy, 20, of Attleboro, before turning the gun on himself around 9:30 a.m. Sunday as police responded to the motel to serve an arrest warrant for Vidal, North Attleboro Police Chief Michael P. Gould Sr. said.

Gould said police heard two gun shots in quick succession from inside the room after officers knocked on the door and announced themselves.

The couple had checked into the room on Friday and both left notes to family and loved ones indicating they were despondent, according to police.

State police and a state police SWAT team arrived to assist local police. Once police were able to enter the room they found the couple in bed. Both were shot in the head, according to police. Purdy was pronounced dead at the scene and Vidal was later pronounced dead at Rhode Island Hospital.

Gould said police have no motive for the incident.

Vidal was wanted on a superior court warrant for a 2007 rape in Seekonk. Police responded to the motel after learning Vidal was staying there.

Vidal was classified as a Level 2 sex offender and on probation for indecent assault and battery when Seekonk police arrested him Aug. 10 for allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl in Seekonk, The Sun Chronicle reported at the time.

Vidal had pleaded innocent to the charges. ..Source..

Inmate apparently commits suicide in Ariz. prison

12-28-2009 Arizona:

FLORENCE - The Arizona Department of Corrections says an inmate has apparently committed suicide at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Eyman at Florence.

He was identified as 47-year-old Monte McCarty.

Department officials say McCarty was pronounced dead shortly before noon Saturday at the Florence prison, some 65 miles southeast of Phoenix.

A spokesman for the department, Bill Lamoreaux, declined to discuss details Monday, saying the death remains under investigation.

McCarty was placed under Department of Corrections custody in June 2008 and was serving a life sentence for sexual conduct with a minor. ..Source.. AP